


It will always come back poking you in the ass

by railroad



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sports, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fencing, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Probably gonna get REAL fluffy later on, References to Depression, Sports! amirite, performance anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:14:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25753402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/railroad/pseuds/railroad
Summary: After years of having quit competitive fencing, Adora decides to give casual fencing a try and joins a club. It feels good, but only for a hour or so.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	It will always come back poking you in the ass

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading.

You slowly made your way up the narrow flight of stairs, carrying your long, oversized and heavy fencing bag on by the straps with your right hand. Your arm was getting tired, and your bag kept bouncing off the stairs when it came too close... But you were close to your goal. You finally arrived at the top, let your bag fall back on the wheels and pushed the door handle open.

You came face to face with a large, brightly lit room that had 6 strips going from one end to another. There were benches against the walls, fencing gear and bags laying around in clutters of stinky messes, fencers here and there either talking to each other or fencing. You looked around for a moment, just taking it in.

It's been a while that you've been anywhere near some fencing.

After college, you retired from competitive fencing to pursue a career as an environmental engineer. You never planned to do this, but it somehow just... Happened. At first, your plans were to spend the rest of your life with a foil in your hand, a mask on your head and your feet on the strip. It was your passion starting from a young age and you were good enough at it that you eventually started aspiring to one day shoot for the olympics... Pretty much like every single highschool and college athlete. You'd hopefully have a reasonable career and you'd get enough sponsors and then, you'd become a coach once your body would start to fail you in your older years... Also just like every athlete.

Instead, you spent your days reading an endless number of scholarly articles on waste water management, submitting projects and attending meetings. The meetings were definitely your least favourite part, but you were satisfied when your endless attempts to convince city officials finally worked. However, this job wasn't all bad either: it gave you some purpose, allowed you to do some good to the world and it fit your personality well. As a natural born leader, you planned out projects, assigned people to different tasks and supported the people under you the entire time. You made sure the projects and suggestions you were submitting to the city would come to fruition, always. You definitely had a hard time accepting projects that were failing or stalling and so, you were pretty good at your job, but also a bundle of nerves whenever something was going awry.

This is why you needed to take your mind off work. All you did was work, no play or barely any. You decided to join up a casual fencing club, just to get some stabbing done again and have fun. As some said: fencing would always come back and poke you in the ass eventually. Once you loved fencing, you loved it forever. You knew the environment of this casual club wouldn't be stressful like a competitive or college team and this is exactly what you needed. You were really looking forward to some lighthearted exchanges and meeting new people.

You took in a deep breath and rolled your bag into the room. You walked to the side, looking around for a sign of a deskroom or an armoury room when you spotted an open door and people discussing inside. That would do.

You let your bag fall down on the floor next to what seemed an empty spot before walking along the end of the strips, towards the door at the end of the room. As you walked, full of confidence, you fixed your hair a little in the hopes to make a good first impression.

You peeked inside the room to see three people sitting around in a circle, next to a desk and engaged in an intense conversation. Immediately, a dark skinned man interrupted himself, looked up and smiled at you excitedly.

"Hey! You must be Adora!"

You jumped a bit but smiled back, maybe just a bit nervously. "Oh hi! Yes! I called earlier to get more info about the club and hopefully join."

"Perfect! Come sit down here and you'll feel right at home in no time." He said and tapped a chair right next to him. He looked pretty fit, had a nice smile and bright dark brown eyes. His hair was cut into a high top fade and you were pretty sure he was a real heartthrob.

You stepped inside and tried avoiding bumping into the woman sitting down in front of the man before then slipping sideways into your newly assigned seat. From your quick first impression, this was the desk room where the club manager probably did all the paperwork. This was also probably used as a hangout spot for the usuals although it was tiny. Probably just felt cozier.

You then quickly looked back at the people sitting in front of you. The man next to you immediately started talking.

"So! Adora, meet Perfuma and Mermista." He gestured to the two women. The first one, a tan, tall but thin woman said a tiny but warm 'hi' at her name. She had a flower in her long light blonde curly hair and freckles on her cheeks and shoulders. The second, an indian woman with very thick and long dark braided hair, let out a nonchalant 'hey' at hers. Her skin was pretty much flawless and there was a dark blue tint to her hair. She was wearing her fencing whites, but with no socks on.

"And i'm bow." The man let out, setting his hand back on his chest with a smile but then immediately started again. "Maybe a neutral third party like you will be able to help us with this dillema we have though." He put an uneasy emphasis on the word dillema.

"Oh?" You let out.

Mermista automatically held up some fencing socks with a dissatisfied look on her face. "So these socks are sooo ugly." She commented, not even looking at them, as if they brought shame to her entire family. Her lips then curled into a tiny but satisfied smile and she held up another pair. "Meanwhile, these one's don't look like they've been through a turtle's stomach. Don't you think?" She asked as she looked at your with her hazel eyes.

You leaned forward a bit to inspect the socks. The first ones had this abstract blue and green motif. They looked kind of funky but... They weren't exactly ugly. Meanwhile the second pair... Also had this blue and green motif, but just differently.

You squinted your eyes, trying to discern if there was even a difference between the two but you couldn't say at all. They looked exactly the same.

"To be honest, I don't really see the difference..." You chuckled nervously but then Perfuma intervened.

"No! There is! These have seashells on them meanwhile these have crabs on them. The seashells are a lot prettier!" She rambled and her voice went up a wavy octave.

"But crabs are like some of the main decomposers of the marine ecosystem, they're so much better than seashells. C'mon." Mermista's voice remained monotone and annoyed the entire way.

Bow sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "They're just socks..." He however then turned to you, meanwhile Mermista and Perfuma continued arguing.

"Either way. Uh... Welcome to the club! Are you a newbie? A novice? An experienced fencer? What do you fence!?" He got more and more excited as his questions spilled out.

"Uh. Beginner I guess, in sabre anyways." A small awkward chuckle escaped your throat. "But this was all a really long time ago and i'm very, very rusty." You tried to remain modest. You were a competitive level foil fencer, but you didn't want to fence any foil in this club. The list of reasons was long and hurtful, and you wanted to really get into sabre anyways. Sabre was different from foil, but it still had the rule of priority, it was fast and adrenaline fueled. It would be a breath of fresh air. 

"Oh well great! We need more sabre fencers, Glimmer's going to be excited!"

"Oh?" You arched a brow.

"We mostly have Epee and Foil fencers so it gets a bit boring for our sabre fencers sometimes."

"Hm. What do you fence?" You asked out of curiosity.

"Epee. Perfuma fences foil and epee, and Mermista, foil. To be honest, there's only three other sabre fencers here. Everyone else is foil or Epee."

"And... One of them is.. Glitter?" You attempted.

"Glimmer! Wait, i'll introduce you to her and the other sabre fencers! Come!" He said and got up. You did as well and followed him out of the tiny room.

He happily led you along the wall of the main room. "Don't worry though, everyone here is super friendly. Even Mermista." He then looked back at you for a moment. "You just have to ask for a dance and there's almost 0% chances anyone's gonna turn you down, y'know?"

"That's good to know." You smiled a bit. Bow was extremely friendly, which was definitely welcomed.

Bow then stopped at the end of a strip and yelled out. "Glimmer!"

You looked down the strip to see two sabre fencers in the middle of a bout. The one closest to the end of the strip then landed in a lunge but her opponent blocked the attack and scored a point against her. The closest fencer immediately turned towards Bow and you. "What!?"

"Come meet Adora!" He yelled out again even though he didn't really need to.

"We're in the middle of a match!" The fencer yelled back, her voice slightly too high in pitch.

"But she's a sabre fenceeeer!"

"Oh!" She immediately jumped. She then whipped her mask off and let it fall on the strip. It fell with a loud noise and her head cable came off flying as well. She hurriedly jogged up to you.

"Shit! A sabre fencer! Adora was it?! Oh thank god you're here! I'm Glimmer, nice to meet you." She held out her hand and you looked down at her. She was just a bit shorter than you but full of energy. Her short curly hair was dyed a dark pink, complimenting her tan skin and her eyes full of vigour. On her pants, there was a nice purple and pink embroidered patch of a crescent.

You shook her hand back and smiled at her. "Nice to meet you."

"She's a beginner so go easy on her will you?" Bow tipped in.

As Glimmer opened her mouth to say something, you noticed her opponent was... sneaking up behind her? No. They were just walking, but in a slightly weird way.

"I'm always-" Glimmer started.

"Oooh! A new sabre fencer! Beginner huh!? Got any gear yet!?" The fencer behind glimmer put her hands on glimmers shoulder's to prop herself up. Glimmer automatically groaned and moved away before the fencer fell back to her feet.

"Uh yeah. I got my gear." You answered

"Good! Come see me in the armoury if ever you need... Reparations!" Her slightly nasally voice escaped her mask. You noticed that she could barely step forward more, as she was pulling on the pulley system linking her lame to the scoring machine to the max.

"Entrapta for the last time, you're not the armourer anymore." Glimmer let out, visibly annoyed.

"I didn't say anything!" The fencer retorted and then stepped away again, but there was clearly some mischief in her voice. She turned around and you noticed two thick long pigtails sticking out of her mask. You wondered how a referee even allowed this as it could be slightly dangerous. However, this was a casual club so you guessed they didn't care as much.

Glimmer sighed and then looked back at you. "Ugh. Yeah. But don't worry. Even if you're a beginner or an expert, there's a place for everyone here."

"Oh, i'm glad to hear that, honestly."

"Yes! That's what makes it fun! But either way, welcome to the club!" The woman smiled at you, the light bouncing off her eyes in the most endearing way.

However, you were excited. "Thanks!"

"Just let me know when you want to fence! Okay?" Glimmer said as she backed up on the strip a little and picked up her mask.

"Thanks! Will do!" You grinned back at her.

Glimmer then walked back to the center of the strip, slipped her mask back on and the bout resumed.

"...I'm the armourer. Entrapta's been banned from the armoury months ago." Bow let out with an awkward chuckle, still watching the two fencers.

"Oh. Okay." You accepted with an uneasy smile. You wondered why this was the case, but you decided to not ask any questions for now. You didn't want to start any drama or make people uncomfortable.

Bow looked around and then turned to you. "Either way! Let's go meet Frosta." He suggested and you nodded. You both walked a bit further into the room.

Bow then suddenly stopped in front of a kid on the phone, sitting down on the bench. Oh. You raised your eyebrows in surprise, she was the only kid here.

"Frosta! Meet Adora, a new sabre fencer." Bow let out and the young girl automatically looked up from her phone. She was 12 at most, with her dark blue hair cut relatively short and a pale complexion. Her thick but short eyebrows were furrowed.

You gave her your best smile and she examined you for a moment before looking back down at her phone, completely uninterested.

"Well nice to meet you!" You let out, sarcastically but without a tone of sarcasm in your voice.

Bow awkwardly laughed and then whispered to you as you both walked away. "She has a tough shell to crack but once she likes you, she's like a hoverfly."

You chuckled. "Really? How do you even get to crack that shell in the first place?"

"Ask Glimmer. She loves Glimmer." He shrugged.

"I guess I will later."

"Yeah." Bow then looked around again, off into the distance a bit before looking back at you. "Hm. She's not here yet." He mumbled to himself.

"Who?"

"The last sabre fencer. Though you'll probably meet her later. Either way you should get suited up and fence glimmer and Entrapta." You wondered about this last sabre fencer, but you guessed you'd find her quickly enough once she'd be there.

"Oh right. Yes. But hey! Thank you for the tour, it's really nice of you."

Bow gave you a smile and set a hand on your shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Don't be shy to try other weapons if you want, there's some spare on the walls."

"Maybe I will." Maybe indeed. You never tried Epee and it honestly didn't seem that fun to you but you could never turn something down until you tried it. But first, sabre.

"Good! You know where to find me if ever." He said and removed his hand before giving you a nod and heading back to the desk room.

Right. You headed back to where you left your bag. To be honest, you were kind of excited. Most of the people seemed friendly and the atmosphere was great. 

You saw down next to your bag and unzipped it. You haven't opened that bag in years and it showed. Hopefully your gear was still good. It should be. You opened the flaps and your foil lame was on top.

Immediately, the letters SHERA and ETH jumped to your face. Your name and country of origin were sprayed on the back of your lame in the classic blue. The writing was worn away with the years, but it was still stubbornly clinging onto the copper fibres of your lame.

Memories quickly came back to you. The identification was required for all competitions and so you immediately got your name and country sprayed on before you first competition. Funnily enough, your last name was Sherman, but the person who did the spray job handed your lame with Shera written on it. Unfortunately, your first competition was the next day you got it back after a long two weeks and you didn't have the time to get a new lame. You didn't have the money to buy a new lame and spray job at the competition itself either as it was useful but insanely pricey. You entered into the competition with Shera as a last name, and it stuck like super glue after this day. It started with the referees calling out Shera whenever it was your turn and you had to halfheartedly answer to it. Then, your teammates started calling you Shera whenever you were fencing as a joke. It was kind of annoying at first but you quickly shrugged it off.

You took your foil lame out but quickly shoved it in another compartment of your bag, you weren't here to fence foil. You then took out your fencing whites, glove, shoes, chest protector and sous-plastron, sabre mask and barely used and unidentified sabre lame. You set everything on the bench next to your bag and started searching for your body and head wire. However, you found your foil mask instead. Right.

As a slightly stupid teenager, you got a yellow winged headpiece spay painted on it. You thought it was super cool back then, but not so much today. It just reminded you of times of stress, anxiety and high expectations.

Back when you were wearing this mask, you were in a collegiate foil team with your childhood best friend, Catra. There were three of you on the team, but you barely remembered your second teammate. But you remembered her well. You were inseparable. You both did everything together: you fenced, ate and studied together. At the second year of college, you even became roommates and you grew even closer. You told everything to each other and you supported one another.

She was nice. She was playful, smart and bold... And maybe you liked her a lot. She was pretty. Actually, more than just pretty.

Under the guidance of your coach, Mrs Weaver, you both quickly became great but very competitive fencers. You both made it to the top ten in the country at collegiate level at some point. At first, the competitiveness kept you and Catra close. It was like it was the both of you against the world. It lasted for a good while, as you'd both fence eachother for hours on end almost everyday and gave feedback to one another. It was playful and maybe just a tad competitive, but it was genuinely to help out one another. She knew your fencing strategies, strengths, weaknesses and quirks better than hers and vice versa. You both were very close in skill, but in different ways.

You were all about keeping priority as much as possible, or force your opponents give it to you unwillingly. You were intimidating and you didn't give any room for error. You were a powerhouse with good timing, feints that were too threatening to ignore and solid parries.

Meanwhile, Catra was the opposite.

She was the queen of setting traps with distance. She let you have priority as much as you'd want but every time you thought you were at the right distance, at the right time, she'd make you fall short. It was like she was always one step ahead of you. Even then, if you did your homework well and if you were at the right distance, she'd parry your incoming attack with a small simple motion, collapse the distance and hit you with coming in from an extreme angle by bending her wrist. She was slippery and just waiting for you lose your cool and to make a mistake on your own.

Even if she was sometimes a frustrating opponent, you couldn't help but be impressed by her. She had nerves of steel and she was extremely resilient, it was very attractive to be honest. You then totally did not develop feeling for her. Haha nope. Okay you absolutely did.

Unfortunately, the competitiveness eventually slowly nudged itself between you two. Catra slowly stopped giving you feedback and slowly became more and more frustrated when you outsmarted her. She let it show by throwing her mask on the floor more and more, breaking her foil's tip by either smashing it against your chest protector or mask really hard (or just gave you one hell of a bruise), and even sometimes refusing to shake your hand at the end of a bout. She didn't have a reason to, but it somehow happened anyways. You didn't understand why, and you tried to confront her about it, but she only pushed you away more. It broke your heart. Towards the end, she was bitter and cold. She became your enemy and she made sure to weaken you mentally as much as possible at every opportunity she had.

At the end of one specific big competition, nationals to be exact, you beat her in the individual event to get silver and she got bronze. Both you and Catra hated entering into individuals as it forced you both to fence against each other, but your coach signed you up either way. If you didn't show up to the competitions as a form of protest, Mrs Weaver would turn into the most terrible person you've met. It made you extremely anxious. You needed to perform, you needed to be the best and you needed to prove yourself. You could guess it was the same for Catra. This specific win was honestly a lucky shot, as the score was very close the entire bout. However, Catra didn't accept it. As soon as you both were in the locker rooms, she automatically broke her foil against a locker, insulted you in the worst way possible and you never saw her again. Just like that. You tried to reach out to her for weeks, kind of in disbelief, but she didn't answer.

Suddenly, you snapped out of it. You were still staring at your old foil mask, as it started right back at you. Ugh. You quickly shoved it back inside your bag and you looked for your body wire.

You eventually found what you were searching for. You quickly went to the bathroom to slip on your fencing pants and a t-shit before going back to the combat room and putting on the rest of your gear. You felt the familiarity of it. Out of habit, you slipped on your body wire underneath your jacket even though most sabre fencers didn't bother and just slipped it underneath their lame. But as a foil fencer, you had to. After all, your foil lame only covered your torso and not your arms, and so the wire would get in the way. As a sabre fencer, you didn't have this problem as the lame covered your torso and arms. Whatever.

You warmed up a little by jogging in place, did a few lunges and hit a target with a saber a few time before you decided you were ready.

You looked around for the pink haired woman you met earlier... Or the pigtails one. Eventually, you spotted both talking with a tall epee fencer you didn't meet yet. You quickly walked up to them with a smile and Glimmer automatically noticed you.

"Oh! Adora! Here you are, we were waiting for you. This is Scorpia. She's an epee fencer but she's a beginner just like you." Glimmer gestured towards a woman standing next to Entrapta.

"Hey! Nice to meet you." The woman in question automatically held out her hand. She was tall, kind of buff, had a pale complexion and white short hair shaved off on the sides. As much as kind of intimidating she looked, she had an extremely friendly look on her face.

You shook her hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you too."

"Well, shall we fence?" Glimmer asked you and Entrapta.

Scorpia suddenly asked, enthusiastic. "Ohhh can I watch? I mean, I know I chose epee but..."

"Of course you can!" Entrapta cut her off.

"Good. Let's go then." Glimmer gestured all of you to follow her.

You all headed to a strip towards the end of the room, maybe just to be a bit further away from all the action and noise.

Glimmer asked you if you wanted to go first, but you felt kind of nervous and so you suggested that you'd sit out the first bout. Instead, you sat down next to Scorpia on the bench and Glimmer shrugged it off. "Fine. But don't worry. We're not going to eat you."

You knew that. You used to be a top foil fencer and so you could probably manage some sabre just fine. However, being all suited up, feeling your glove hang off your body wire and the mask under your arm made you nervous. It was like you needed to activate some kind of fight or flight mode now. You felt the anxiety rise up inside your gut, you were starting to sweat. You needed to perform. You needed to be at your best. You needed to be Shera again.

Your grip around your sabre tightened as you watched Glimmer and Entrapta hook up to the pulley system. You needed to calm down. This was sabre. It wasn't foil. You didn't need to perform. You were in a friendly club. Weaver wasn't watching. You could lose, and nothing bad would happen.

Entrapta turned on the scoring machine and then patted it with her hand very gently as if it was a living being. Both women then slipped on their masks, gently tapped each other's masks to see if they were properly wired up to the scoring machine and then got to the en garde position.

The match started with Glimmer doing a quick half step and an immediate lunge, aiming for Entrapta's mask. Classic sabreur behavior but you couldn't blame her. The rules of saber were set up in a way that encouraged aggressiveness. However, she fell short as Entrapta slipped away. As a response, the pink haired woman slowly started to retreat, on her guard. She lost priority, and now she had to be very careful.

Entrapta made her way kind of slowly up the piste. It was way too slow for a sabre fencer, it's almost as it she wasn't really paying attention. You turned to take a peek to the other spectator next to you. Scorpia looked completely awestruck. You looked back to the two fencers and before you even knew it, the light lit up on Entrapta's side.

Right, to watch fencing, no matter what the weapon, you couldn't blink. You'd often miss the final and fatal action or exchanges if you were distracted.

You watched the two women fence more. From what you could see, they were both experienced saber fencers, but especially Glimmer. Her fencing style was a bit generic, but her movements were efficient and her reflexes were automatic. She was a very aggressive fencer but so were you.

You looked back at Scorpia and she had this blank stare as she watched the two women. She suddenly looked at you with her eyebrows furrowed. "Do you even understand what's going on?!"

You chuckled. "Yeah. Do you know about priority?"

She laughed, embarrassed. "Entrapta tried to explain it to me a few times but..." She let out a heavy sigh. "I still don't get it."

"Well that's fine. You can basically sum it up with this: if both fencers hit each other at the same time, nobody gets a point. If one is more agressive though, they get the point. If one is going forwards and is therefore has the initiative while the other is going backwards, they get the point even if they hit each other at the same time. And lastly, if one blocks the attack of the other and does a riposte, they get the point because they took the priority." You dumped all the information on her. There were more nuances than only this but it was useless to get into them if the person didn't understand the basics in the first place.

The white haired woman let out a "Hm." You could see the gears in her head turning as she stared at the fencers. She then looked back at you.

"That makes sense. Though... I still don't understand why someone would get the point if they hit each other at the same time but one is more aggressive. How can you even see that!?"

You chuckled. "Don't worry. You eventually just get used to it, you just have to give yourself time."

Scorpia smiled a bit. "Fine. Though I might still ask you more questions eventually."

"It'll be my pleasure to answer." You let out and leaned back on your hands on the bench.

You both watched the match unfolding in front of you. As ever, Glimmer rarely retreated meanwhile Entrapta did. However, it was rare that Entrapta got a point scored against her whenever she was retreating. It almost as if she was just too slippery.

"You a foil fencer?" You heard Scorpia's voice again.

"Huh? What makes you say that?"

She was staring at your dominant hand. It made you realize that you were fiddling with the clip of your body wire in your hand.

"You put your wire under you jacket." She commented and you immediately tensed up.

"I... Okay maybe I do fence a bit of foil. Sometimes. But i'm here to learn saber."

Scorpia let out a hearty chuckle. "Fine with me."

You couldn't believe she was this observant. You'd have to slip your body wire underneath your lame next time. But... Why were you even nervous about this in the first place? Maybe it was just because you really wanted people to treat you as a beginner in sabre. Maybe it was just because you absolutely just didn't want to fence foil. Actually, it was totally the latter. It would bring back too much performance anxiety.

Suddenly you heard your name. "Adora!"

You snapped your head up and saw Glimmer waiting for you on the strip. Entrapta was already on her way back to sit next to Scorpia. Right. You could do this.

You walked up the strip and gave her a smile. "Again, thanks for being so friendly you guys."

She chuckled, her mask resting in the top of her head. "I know i know. Were totally the best people ever. It's a wonder why our club hasn't gotten the 'best fencing club ever' award yet."

You laughed a bit as you clipped the wire on the hook in the back of your jacket. "Yeah, totally. Who knows, maybe you'll get it someday."

"Hah! Imagine, The Rebellion, fencing club since 2007, finally crushing all the others!"

You clipped your body wire to your mask, plugged in your saber and gave her a small salute. "I'm honestly rooting for you guys now."

She gave you a salute as well, and you both let your masks fall on your head properly before testing the conductivity. Everything worked. Perfect.

You both got to the en garde position and the bout started. Glimmer started out easy on you, only doing half lunges and letting you have priority a lot more than a normal sabre fencer would. While your automatic reaction was to get annoyed, you understood that it was just to be nice. However, everything was quickly coming back to you. The lunges, the half steps, everything. The only thing that was off was the sabre you were holding in your hand. You had to lead with the whole blade, not just the point, and you had to use the guard to protect your forearm.

The bout went well, Glimmer progressively became less and less forgiving and eventually fenced you for real. For some odd reason, you enjoyed every single moment of this bout. It was lighthearted, fun and upbeat. There was still this tiny edge of competitiveness, but it was just enough. Glimmer let out some "Nice!"s every now and then and you replied with a smirk "You ain't too bad yourself!".

Eventually the bout ended when you both were in desperate need for some water. Glimmer enthusiastically shook your hand as you did the same. "Adora, you're gonna fit right in."

You turned a bit pink at this. "Thanks!"

You both got off the strip and immediately headed for your water bottles. You were sweaty as hell, but it felt good. The adrenaline was still rushing through you and you were ready for the next bout. You looked at the other fencers and you Glimmer was already sitting on the bench next to Scorpia meanwhile Entrapta was already heading back on the strip with another fencer.

You sat down next to Glimmer and let out a happy sigh. "Whew, this felt good."

"It did! It's always so nice to fence new people." She said slightly dreamily before quickly turning back to you. "You're gonna stay here right!?"

You jumped a bit but chuckled. "Yeah. Definitely."

"Good!"

"Woohoo! Let's go wildcat!" Scorpia suddenly cheered as the two fencers on the strip tested their masks. You recognized Entrapta with her pigtails but not her opponent. That must be the other sabre fencer.

You looked back at Glimmer. "So, you guys meet up every Friday or what?"

"Yup! Wednesdays and Fridays. Usually from 5 'till 10 but there's always a few people that stay later and we don't really care. As long as you leave the club clean and the last person locks the door behind them."

"Fine by me. Who runs the club anyway?"

She let out a proud chuckle. "None other than me!" She then lowered her voice a little. "... With Bow's help... And my mom's."

You smiled. "Well it's great."

"Yeah. And the membership is pretty cheap too so anyone really can come fence here."

"True. I read it on your website. Remind me to give you the check at the end of this."

"Mhm. But hey, at least you got to meet a good chunk of our fencers!"

"Yes. I imagine you started the club with Bow?"

"Yup!" She suddenly talked really quickly. "And I kind of pushed Mermista and Seahawk to be our first clients, but now they love it too!"

You arched a brow. "Who's... Seahawk?"

"Mermista's half boyfriend. He has a mustache but he's nice."

You chuckled. "I see." You felt a bit giddy to get back on the strip, but you tried to control yourself.

You and Glimmer continued talking as you all watched the bout in front of you. You were watching, but you weren't entirely focused on it as you were talking and your mind hand the tendency to wander around a bit.

Eventually, Entrapta shook her opponent's hand.

At this, you automatically got up, excited. "Oh! Can I go next?"

Glimmer shrugged. "Sure. Go for it." And the fencer on the strip gestured towards the strip with their saber in agreement, mask still covering their face.

Hell yes. You quickly grabbed your saber and mask and jumped on the strip. You were nervous but excited.

You quickly gave a salute to your new opponent and they did as well, but without lifting their mask. Kind of rude, but whatever.

You tested your masks and immediately got to the en garde position. This was exciting. A new mysterious fencer, sabre too. They were probably just as friendly as Glimmer, Bow, Scorpia or Entrapta.

As soon as you tapped your thighs at the same time as a signal you were ready, they quickly leaped towards you. Before you knew it, their saber's point went slashing through your chest quickly. Their light lit up and you froze in surprise. It happened just like that.

Damn okay. You'd have to be on your guard this with this fucker.

The next point started and you were a bit more careful, but much to your dismay, the exact same scenario happened. You scoffed a bit. Right, you had to be a bit more aggressive right away. You couldn't do scouting during the match anymore, you should've done this before, when you were on the bench watching them.

You got ready for the next point. As soon as your hand hit your thigh, you immediately did a half step and lunged towards your opponent. They were coming it fast as well, judging from their front foot rapidly moving forward.

You lunged, your foot hit the ground, but you saber hit nothing. Fuck. You then heard a tiny tap on your mask and the familiar beeping of the scoring machine and looked up. It lit up on your opponent's side. They baited you into being too aggressive and changed up their strategy one step ahead of you.

Smart.

However, you weren't the type of person to cower away from a challenge. They already had 3 points against you but you could still catch up.

You got yourself together and you both continued fencing. This opponent was awfully smart but it intrigued you. They were aggressive, but also let you have priority willingly here and there. Your old fencer reflexes slowly came back to you, and you became more and more aggressive. Your advanced rapidly down the strip, to strip your opponent of time as much as possible. You scored a few points but your opponent did as well. They made you fall short often and it was getting frustrating. You eventually caught it on, and you automatically parried as soon as your attack didn't land. It surprised them the two first times and it gave you points but... they quickly caught on your little game as well and they changed strategy entirely.

They started fencing with their point instead. As soon as you noticed this, you couldn't help but smirk. Ha! As this was a sabre bout, it was stupid of them. It was much easier to hit a target with an entire blade. Plus, they didn't know who they were against. Just out of amusement, you fenced back leading with your point as well, just like a foilist. It was kind of funny to you at first but it quickly became unpleasant. You felt anxiety rise up a little. It was becoming too familiar. It was almost as if you were fencing someone you knew too well.

Out of impulse, you decided to a simple but quick feint on the outside of your opponent's wrist but to then kick back your point in the air to then come back in for real at the maximum speed.

Your point cut through air like butter.

It then however landed loudly on your opponent's guard. Before you knew it, your blades roughly glided against eachother and your saber was up, trying to protect your head.

But it was too late. You opponent was already resting their blade on your mask and the light already lit up for them.

You froze in place as your opponent was standing close. You looked at them through their mask and your breath hitched as you recognized two mismatched eyes.

" _Hey Adora_."

Your eyes widened in shock as you stepped back. You recognized that greeting anywhere. The silky smooth but sligthly breathy tone of that voice and the amusement in it was unmistakable.

"Catra?!"

Your opponent lowered her weapon before removing her mask. You saw a thick mane of brown hair, freckles and a smug smirk.

"Where's Shera? I thought you were a foil fencer till the end."

You swallowed and quickly removed your mask to look at her better. You were out of breath, and way too hot and tired to deal with this crap. Your dark eyebrows immediately dipped downwards.

"There's no Shera anymore. Now if you'll excuse me." You said, hurriedly unclipping yourself from the pulley.

"What, you're not even gonna shake my hand? You know you'd get carded for that." She crossed her arms as she said this, with her classic honeyed tone. She was looking at you, letting her mask rest on her head and she definitely seemed amused. More than that even. She was just straight up loving seeing you off guard like this.

You let the clip loudly fall down on the floor and it automatically and quickly got pulled back away by the mechanical system, dragging on the strip. You didn't care.

You had no idea what in the world Catra was doing here, but you didn't like it at all. Last time you talked to her, she swore on her head that she'd never be fencing again. She swore that she'd never talk to you again, and she swore that she hated everything about you.

You looked at her for a moment as she held up her bare hand. You felt your heart pound through your chest and finally let out a shaky sigh before shaking her hand with your gloved hand. This was a sign of disrespect, as people usually shook hands with their non-armed hand but you didn't care. You were over her for years now. You weren't going to start suddenly being friendly with her again now. Not after what she did.

The handshake was firm and bitter between the both of you. You then automatically turned around and headed back to the bench. You didn't even look back. You were too angry that you got caught off guard like this, and by none other than Catra herself too.

As you walked up to the bench, Glimmer and Scorpia both looked up at you puzzled. You gave them an uneasy smile. "I think... I'm going to head home for tonight. Thanks a lot for the warm welcome, it was great."

Scorpia simply grimaced while Glimmer only had questions in her eyes. You quickly turned and headed back to your fencing bag, further into the room.

You arrived at your bag and quickly took off your gear. You didn't even take the time to flip your lame properly to protect it, you simply shoved it in your bag next to your shoes. You were down to your sweat drenched tshirt and pants when you heard your name.

"Adora!"

It was Glimmer's voice. You turned around to see her jogging up to you, looking concerned.

"What in the world happened?" She asked a bit out of breath.

You let out a nervous laughter but you didn't smile. "Nothing. I'm just tired."

"Are you sure? You look awfully upset."

You then forced a smile. "No! I mean yes!"

Glimmer then suddenly let out a sorry chuckle. "Man, for a fencer you're a terrible actor."

You sighed, caught red handed before finally admitting. "I'm just not on good terms with Catra. It's really nothing terrible though."

Glimmer's eyes widened. "You know her?"

You chuckled nervously and looked off to the side. "Yeah. We kinda used to fence a lot together and we kinda hate each other now because bad things happened." You voice grew more quiet and you spoke faster as the sentence progressed.

She grimaced. "Oh." But then tried to give you a reassuring smile. "Well either way, you don't need to fence her. If ever she gives you trouble just tell me or Bow okay? I know she's a bit of a troublemaker sometimes..."

Hah. She was more than just a troublemaker in your opinion. "Tell me about it."

Glimmer unzipped her lame to air out a bit and let out a small breath. "Yeah. She actively aims for someone's kneecaps and shins in epee if she doesn't like them."

You laughed in surprise but this wasn't funny at all. Yeah. She didn't change a bit. "Who even? Everyone's so nice."

"Mostly Kyle and Seahawk... But she says that she's actively trying to work on her anger issues."

You raised your brows in doubt. You didn't believe this at all, but it wasn't Glimmer's fault. From the first impression of the club you had, you loved it and you really wanted to come back. You decided that Catra wouldn't stop you from enjoying fencing again. You tried to convince and reassure the young woman infront of you.

"Either way, don't mind me. I'll just stay out of her way and there won't be any problems. If ever there is, i'll deal with it outside of the club."

Glimmer smiled at you. "Fine. But don't be shy okay?"

You smiled back, quickly then took out a check out of your bag and handed it to Glimmer. "I won't. Thanks."

With this, you left the club.

As you hauled your bag down the stairs, you felt a mix of emotions, but mostly anger. You couldn't believe that after all these years and everything that happened, Catra has the balls to fence you and act smug like this. It was like she wasn't sorry at all.

You truly wondered what went through her mind when she noticed you were there. Obviously, she actively sought to fence you or she wouldn't have started fencing with the group you were in. There were plenty of other fencers in this club. Plus, since when did she fence saber?! Or epee?! It was... Weird. She was all about winning. The weapon she was obviously the best at was foil and you were pretty sure she'd destroy most people in this club. But then, why was she fencing saber? There were two possible explanations: she either had bad feelings about foil just like you and wanted to avoid it or she already destroyed all the foil fencers and was aching for more wins. Knowing her, it was probably the latter.

You stepped outside, unlocked your car and then threw your bag on the backseat. You then headed home, your thumb nervously tapping on the wheel the entire trip.

At the same time... You knew Catra had an extremely hard time back in college. She was extremely competitive and your coach only made it a thousand times worse. Mrs Weaver treated you both in different ways, as a mean to get the same end results but it deeply scarred both Catra and you.

Mrs Weaver encouraged you, made you feel like you were invincible and destined to achieve greatness. You were the perfect foil fencer according to her. You were expected to constantly perform and excel. It was high expectations, and you were a wreck before every single competition. You'd often go into the bathroom and throw up from the anxiety between bouts and it was hard to speak to you the entire competition. If you lost, Weaver didn't say much, but you knew you were disappointing her. Not only that, but you were letting your teammates down. You weren't living up to the expectations. You were therefore a failure but you were ashamed of it and you didn't dare show your face for a few days after every loss.

On the other hand, Catra was always the last choice. Mrs Weaver belittled her, and made sure that she knew how little she thought of her. You never really heard all of the conversations Catra had with the coach, but you knew it wasn't pretty. And yet, your teammate tore through every competition like a machine, out of pure spite. It was exactly what Weaver wanted too. If Catra failed however, she automatically had breakdowns. You tried your best to be there for her but she automatically pushed you away, swatting your hands off of her or slamming doors in your face. You felt completely powerless and you failed Catra. You were too immature and naive to even really understand what was going on. You weren't able to be there for your best friend. You never realized that you were the source of her anguish until today.

You felt a ball go up you throat and you pinched your lips together.

You missed Catra.


End file.
